Families can be the worst, am I right? That’s especially true for Joanna (Mary Wiseman, Star Trek: Discovery), the thirtysomething lesbian at the center of Bryna Turner’s The Visitors, a well-crafted dramedy from 2nd Stage playing at the Pershing Square Signature Center. After receiving an alarming diagnosis of kidney failure, she invites her three older siblings to the New York City loft apartment she shares with her nonbinary partner, Naomi (Esco Jouléy, Dying for Sex), whose own kidney has been ruled out. Surely one of them will not only be a genetic match but willing to volunteer one of their kidneys to keep their baby sister alive. (The official waiting list is 90,000 names long, so finding a willing and eligible relative or friend is her best shot.)
That ask proves to be less than simple for this decidedly dysfunctional clan. Theresa (Celia Keenan-Bolger, always grounded), the oldest and a suburban mother of a 15-year-old girl, would seem like an eager donor despite her resistance to therapy, natural tendency to deflect, and fixation on returning to her childhood passion for raising horses. Henry (Will Pullen, wonderfully prickly) presents himself as the most financially successful of the bunch — but there are signs of trouble in his repeated flashes of anger and the fact that he arrives with his 11-month-old daughter (and without his wife). Finally, there’s Rory (Danny Wolohan), whom the siblings have been avoiding for years as he cycled through prison and rehab programs. He now seems to be on more secure, sober ground and eager to reconnect — but will his past drug use disqualify him and can he be counted on to stay clean? Wolohan brings a believable bewilderment to a guy who wants desperately to be hugged but who keeps being offered a handshake instead.
This is a family of solipsists whose default mode is bickering and getting under each other’s skins, as demonstrated in a late-night game of Catan where they all gang up on Henry and Naomi quietly wonders aloud if the fictional empire “was occupied land before we settled here.” The tension mounts when Joanna learns that one of her siblings has in fact been approved as a donor — but all three claim they are ineligible, each blaming a disqualifying diagnosis of high blood pressure.
Turner has a knack for writing comedic banter with an underlying emotional component, and for capturing how family members can poke each other’s sore spots without intending harm (and sometimes when they very much intend harm). “I love that you don’t have responsibilities,” Theresa tells Joanna, whom she still sees as a baby sister without kids of her own or a “real” job like Henry’s. For his part, Henry endorses a plan to “strip Rory for parts and then toss him back to the sharks.”
Given all the rancor, you can expect that the conflict will escalate — and it does in a dinner scene of exquisite discomfort involving boiled chicken, a store-bought cake, and a pink-handled knife. Under Jenna Worsham’s sure-handed direction, the moment teeters between tragedy and farce without ever tumbling over into the implausible. She makes great use of Kate Noll’s hyper-realistic set, which is smartly lit by Stacey Derosier, while prying stellar performances from a cast that hits the punchlines without losing sight of the characters’ reality. Keenan-Bolger continues to shine as an actress who gives an appealing groundedness to deeply flawed characters.
Yes, the premise is forced. Would Joanna really ask these semi-estranged siblings to drop everything and meet her in person instead of making separate requests over Zoom? This is a family of emotional toddlers, after all, and Joanna is not entirely exempt from that description (despite Naomi’s attempts to rein in her lover’s more outrageous, self-defeating impulses). But there’s an honesty to Turner’s characterizations in The Visitors, and a genuine humor, that justify spending time with this fractured family. ★★★★☆
THE VISITORS
2nd Stage at Pershing Square Signature Center, Off Broadway
Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets on sale through December 6 for $85 to $105